Equal Pay for Dummies

Equal pay is not rocket science - in fact it's rather easy to grasp.

Above all else it's a comparative exercise - one that must be conducted in an open and transparent manner - which sets out to assess the 'value' of various jobs according to their skills and responsibilities.

The end result should be a local pay system that everyone can understand - not just senior managers - and the job of the trade unions is to make sure that this happens. 

Job evaluation is an important part of the process - and the way in which jobs are valued must be fair and consistent - so that male are not given more favourable treatment than female jobs, for example.

I think it would be fair to say most people can accept why some jobs are worth more than others - but it is very difficult to see why so many traditional male council jobs - with comparatively few skills and responsibilities - get paid so much more than their female colleagues.

What offends common sense is why a refuse worker, a gardener or a gravedigger - should be paid so much more than a carer, catering worker or a classroom assistant, for example.   

And if concerns about pay discrimination exist at the start of the process - then the  obvious thing to do is  to create a 'rank order of jobs' - to show the before and after effects of job evaluation.

Then everyone can see for themselves exactly what's going on - back to the earlier 'it's not rocket science' point.

Because the purpose of a rank order of jobs is to show which groups win and which groups lose from the job evaluation process.

Who lands on a snake - and who lands on a ladder?

So if all or most of the female jobs remain concentrated at the bottom of the pay ladder then this would suggest - to a serious minded person - that something had gone seriously wrong with the process.

Particularly given the concerns expressed by the trade unions - over a long period of time - about many women's jobs being badly undervalued and underpaid.

Which was - of course - the whole reason from introducing a new Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement in Scotland back in 1999. 

A number of readers have been in touch to say that Unison is holding some meetings on equal pay starting next week.

So I maybe I'll pull together a few questions that union members might wish to ask -  about the background to what's been happening in South Lanarkshire.